Things to look forward to

Morning has come with the first rays of sun

Breaking through our windowpane

Songs fill the air but there’s no singer there

Just an old wooden guitar playing

Writing this song won’t take very long

Trying not to use the world “old”

Thinking about taking chances and doubts

That still linger in the cold

Looking forward, all that I can see

Is good things happening to you and to me

I’m not waiting for times to change

I’m gonna live like a free-roaming soul 

(Looking forward. Crosby, Stills & Nash)

Looking forward to summer? Or winter (for my friends in Down Under)?

I am looking forward to a slower pace – a break in the daily routine. To endless coffee mornings, reading a book in the dappled shade of my backyard, netflixing ad nauseam (how many episodes of Stranger Things can I watch before turning into a shadow monster? And since we are on the topic – there’s another Upside Down? I didn’t know! Do I have to change the name of this blog?). To sunny patios and long summer nights. To running, resting, and writing.

For the last 91 days, I have been participating in a creative writing assignment called “The 100-day Project”: An act of creativity each day.

My goal was to follow a writing prompt daily, and I did – though it was more of a half-a-100-day Project for me. While I can think of a few reasons for my lack of productivity, I am going to blame long Covid for it. Feeling sluggish and fuzzy, brain fog is definitely a thing (or has the Mind Flyer taken over my mind?). Add an unhealthy dose of self-doubt, writing hasn’t come easy in the last couple of months. 

Except for when it did. 

Day 74. Writing prompt # 37: Things to look forward to. Make a list of things to look forward to. Include big things if you’d like, but also the small everyday things that buoy your spirits, make you laugh, make you feel alive.

During my last few weeks in Sydney, when Corona came closer and closer – no longer a thing that happened elsewhere but right in front of my little blue house. When everything seemed to stand still, the air heavy with uncertainty and fear. When even the kookaburra in that ol’ gum tree wasn’t sure whether it should laugh or cry.

During those days, and many more before and after that, getting out of bed wasn’t always easy. During those days that lay big and empty ahead of me, I developed a sort of mantra that would get me up and going and give me something to look forward to: There ain’t nothing a hot shower and a cup o’ coffee can’t fix!

1. Hot showers

I admit it – I LOVE long hot showers! Not good for the environment, I know, but great for me! I love the delicious goosebumps it gives me, turning my pale skin scarlet red – how it fogs up the bathroom and swallows me with it. As a child, I would spend hours in the shower stalls of the public pool, scalding hot water raining down on me and my best friend in the shower stall across mine. We would sit there for hours, talking, laughing, and sharing secrets. I don’t remember ever actually going for a swim.

2. A cup of coffee

I’m not a coffee drinker – I am a coffee lover, bordering on coffee snob! I love everything about it: the smell of fresh ground coffee beans, the gentle gurgling of the percolator (though my coffee maker sounds more like it’s choking – remind me to descale it!). I love choosing the perfect coffee mug, adding just the right amount of cream, and wrapping my cold hands around that warm coffee cup. Most of the time, I don’t even finish my coffee – I just like to hold on to it. I am not a coffee drinker – I am a coffee lover!  And I am looking forward to walking down to the local coffee shop near the beach to grab “a weird long black with a splash of white”.

3. Saturday Mornings

On my list of favourite-things-to-look-forward-to, Saturday mornings come right after Friday nights. The quiet of the early morning hours, a cup of coffee (of course), a newspaper (not one but two!): pouring over interesting articles, checking out new books, and sharing good posts. 

They say summer is just a really long weekend: June is like Friday, July is like Saturday, and August is like Sunday. I look forward to the Saturdays of life.

There are many more little things I look forward to: Going home after a long day at work. Finishing a good book – and starting a new one. Writing with a fountain pen on expensive paper. Blasting my favourite song on the stereo. A friend checking in. I always look forward to going for a run. To hanging out with my boys. I look forward to planning trips and travelling.

Have I mentioned Stranger Things? 

Going back to Australia is a BIG thing to look forward to.

While I always say “Don’t go back to where you once were happy!”, I also say “Always finish what you started!”

I look forward to the beach and green bench. To watch the sun rise and set every day. 

The light. The colours. The sounds. Everything seems more intense in Down Under – but maybe that’s just me.

I look forward to the people. Covid did not allow for a proper goodbye from many of the great people I met in Sydney. So let me go back to say hello again before I say farewell. 

I look forward to myself. To the way I was. I am. And the way I might be.

I look forward to reliving some of my memories and creating many new ones.

I look forward to what’s to come. Especially my visa!!!

(Gotta run! A new season of Stranger Things is being released TODAY, and I still have twelve episodes to watch! And I wonder why my brain feels fuzzy? 🤪 Cheers!)